Update in Computer Land

Finally the pieces are coming together with the computer.   If anything has been ingrained into my memory it is how the support a company offers makes all the difference.

One of my backup drives would not restore, heck, it did not even get acknowledged by Windows.  After clicking through the companies support pages it came down to remembering the user name and password I used last year.  ugh err ok I forgot to write it down.

Eventually I gave up as the support site returned errors on every email I have – so I decided to try and re register the drive in order to get access to the new version of the software and drivers.

Now I needed the serial number. No big deal right? Wrong the print was so small and I am telling you I mean small! Three of us tried reading it with a magnifying glass and even then it was hard to read. Ought to be a law against that.

The backup software never did work but the folders are there. Thanks to my pal that has access to one of the pay driver update sites.

The other drives manufacturers site was very user friendly, and it remembered me!   I logged on, searched for the drivers and in two minutes  I was done. A few keystrokes later my drive worked. Then I plugged in my oldest drive and windows found the updated driver and happy joy joy it works also.

Now can you guess which drive I will recommend to someone or purchase again – sure is not the dinky arse serial numbered suck-o support site companies now is it?

The best thing happening right now is 254 GB of photos are happily backing up along with  3 GB of MP3’s.

The pics on the hard drive that were not backed up – boo hoo – I morn 🙁 . …  I also heard back from Nikon and none of their products will work with Vista 64 nor do they have any updated drivers for the D80.

Thank you for emailing us.

Compatibility and support for Nikon software running on a Windows 64-bit system is under review by the Nikon Quality department.
At this time we do not have any time table on when we will or if we will issue drivers and software support for this new system.

I apologize for this inconvenience.

Again, Thank you

Jay
Nikon Technical Support.

So now I have no software to post process with! Capture NX, Elements, nada. Good thing I use a card reader and not direct cable hook up to get my photos of the camera.

It is kind of nice having a clean start. All the useless files that build up on my drives are no longer there to suck up space.  Plus even though the clock speed is slower than my old computer it seems to perform better with some of the programs. Cool. Not sure of all the ins and outs of duo v quad but so far I am a happy camper with the gateway for the money – not bad.

I sure have learned to set the backup program to monitor and backup everything. Easier to delete garbage than to loose the good stuff. I have 2T worth of drive space to use so there really is no excuse not to. I downloaded the trial  version of the newest Adobe Photoshop Elements, even though it is not certified to work with the 64bit system so far I have not experienced any problems with it. The upgrade is under 100 bucks so I am thinking that is the way to go right now if I can come up with  the bucks before it expires. I have to see if the laptop will run NX with any speed.

Had a few drops of rain yesterday and this morning the wind is blowing it is nice and cool right now (59). Not sure if it is still cloudy as I have not stuck my head outside to look. I think I am going to go cut up a few nectarines and maybe treat myself with a little sugar on top of em. ‘Then again there is apple pie emm decisions, decisions.

Ok I am going to be a piggy and have both!